"Careful sir, this is a very powerful car!"

[GALLARDOGUY]

Funny that, because I tried revving the Saab to 8750 RPM, like I did the 355, and that didn't work either.

[Lawbags]

I turned up to look at a Civic for a mate in my Civic which is clearly turbo'd and track orientated.

Was a standard 190bhp jobby.
Yet the guy wouldn't let either of us test drive it as it was 'not for the feint hearted'

Off we went in a cloud of tyre smoke.

Edited by Lawbags on Saturday 13th September 10:14

[markmullen]

Wow, you told him.

[matchmaker]

Opposite for me. Turned up at the Skoda showroom in a 1.0 automatic Micra. Was handed the keys to an Octavia VRS and told to bring it back when I'd properly checked it out.

I've now had my VRS for 10 years! (They even took the Micra as a trade-in and the salesman bought it for his wife)

[sjc]

Lawbags said:

I turned up to look at a Civic for a mate in my Civic which is clearly turbo'd and track orientated.

Was a standard 190bhp jobby.
Yet the guy wouldn't let either of us test drive it as it was 'not for the feint hearted'

Off we went in a cloud of tyre smoke.

Edited by Lawbags on Saturday 13th September 10:14

How would a salesman know that a car that isn't turbo'd as standard was clearly turbo'd???
Was it sticking out the bonnet?

[Davie]

Lawbags said:

Yet the guy wouldn't let either of us test drive it as it was 'not for the feint hearted'

Off we went in a cloud of tyre smoke.

And thus proving to him he was correct in declining you a test drive...?

[cat with a hat]

sjc said:

How would a salesman know that a car that isn't turbo'd as standard was clearly turbo'd???
Was it sticking out the bonnet?

Not sure if you're trying to take the piss or don't actually know, but I imagine he would be referring to a large FMIC.

Still, I'm not sure the saleman would know what one of those are.

[bimsb6]

sjc said:

How would a salesman know that a car that isn't turbo'd as standard was clearly turbo'd???
Was it sticking out the bonnet?

It had a TURBO sunstrip obviously .

[Fast Bug]

salesperson would probably spot it if they were looking at your car.

Salespeople are good at spotting idiots that wheelspin off the forecourt as well. This proving they were right not to offer a test drive. Still, at least it made you feel big and clever?

Edited by Fast Bug on Saturday 13th September 19:38

[sjc]

cat with a hat said:

sjc said:

How would a salesman know that a car that isn't turbo'd as standard was clearly turbo'd???
Was it sticking out the bonnet?

Not sure if you're trying to take the piss or don't actually know, but I imagine he would be referring to a large FMIC.

Still, I'm not sure the saleman would know what one of those are.

Which was kinda my point.

[sjc]

Fast Bug said:

cat with a hat said:

Not sure if you're trying to take the piss or don't actually know, but I imagine he would be referring to a large FMIC.

Still, I'm not sure the saleman would know what one of those are.

A salesperson would probably spot it if they were looking at your car.

Salespeople are good at spotting idiots that wheelspin off the forecourt as well. This proving they were right not to offer a test drive. Still, at least it made you feel big and clever?

In fairness, it wasn't him who made the quote!

Edited by sjc on Saturday 13th September 18:33

[Lawbags]

sjc said:

How would a salesman know that a car that isn't turbo'd as standard was clearly turbo'd???
Was it sticking out the bonnet?

My bad...I failed to mention that it was a private sale and the guy was an enthusiast.

[Fast Bug]

sjc said:

In fairness, it wasn't him who made the quote!

Edited by sjc on Saturday 13th September 18:33

Well spotted, fat fingers and iPhone's don't go togther very well

[Sterillium]

Went to view a Saab Viggen once, turned up, conspicuously, in my TVR.

On the test drive, the private seller immediately said "Be careful, it REALLY takes off when you give it some..."

At this point I was driving completely normally, accelerating to 60mph on a clear and empty dual carriageway, and he was pushing himself back into his seat with his legs, assumingly pretending the steady, reasonable acceleration was doing it to him.

Then he began warning me of twitchiness, of the power surge, and of how it had SO MUCH POWER when overtaking and just to "take it easy it a bit at first..." as I was doing a steady 59 and overtaking nobody at all.

I just think he'd convinced himself it was something superpowered and special, I kept mentioning the TVR and dropping hints that I might be OK with a little twitchiness or some sudden power under my right foot, but to no avail.

[McSam]

CraigyMc said:

McSam said:

ORD said:

I don't know what is the funniest part - the bullst kerb weight (it isn't a kilo under 1350kg and, I was told when driving one, more like 1400kg).

He's close - BMW quote 1370kg for the three-door, which is including 75kg driver and 90% fuel, so unoccupied it's more or less the 1290kg mentioned. "Weight" is so stunningly unqualified that it's easy to play around with.

Which BMW do, with the actual mass of any one of their models being considerably higher than quoted. For a base-spec 116i, the real kerbweight with driver and 90% fuel would be around 1430kg.

I was interested by this so a couple of weeks ago I had my car weighed. I happened to be going past a public weighbridge and thought "why not?".

This was taken with me in it (I weigh about 85Kg including shoes etc).
The car had about 3/4 of a tank of diesel in it.


This is what's written on the V5C. I was astounded to find it's pretty much on the button.


Also for the record, the car isn't a "cloth seats and electric nothing" BMW - it's got lots of options fitted, which are presumably heavier than the standard bits in most cases. Here's the list:

Vehicle specification:
BMW 3 Series E90 4DR SALOON
320d 4DR SALOON 2.0 EFFICIENT DYNAMICS

Colour: Black Sapphire Metallic
Trim: Black Dakota Leather

Factory Options:
SNIP

Sorry, I missed this until now! As someone pointed out, the "mass in service" on the V5C includes 75kg driver, 90% fuel, all other fluids (incl. screenwash) full. So to roughly adapt from that condition to your measured condition, if you had only three quarters of a tank of diesel (-8kg from full) and you (+10kg from the standard 75kg driver), we need to add 2kg to the mass in service. So the car should have weighed 1497kg. It was heading for 100kg heavy

Scanning through your options list, again quite roughly and not being certain of everything included, I get to almost 20kg of spec mass. It's got lots of bits on it but not mega heavy ones, though if the HK system comes with an amp and/or subwoofer please add about 3kg for each!

Hence the figure quoted by BMW suggests your car should have been approx. 1517kg when weighed in your condition, and it was 1580kg. My estimate would have been 1586kg, so actually you did alright!

[MuZiZZle]

I think I was 22/23 when I bought my Legacy B4RSK, turned up in a 90bhp 306 Dturbo, he game me and my dad the keys and told us to come back when we were finished.

When I bought the M5 I went in my 320d.

I've never really had an issue, maybe I've struck lucky, I bet they get a load of people just turning up for a go of the cars, it must be a nightmate!

[zarjaz1991]

I suppose the speed thing can be relative. My Mondeo is certainly not a "rocket", or whatever other silly phrases people use. However, it does feel like one after driving my mates' silly 1.0 Corsa.....

I agree with others though...these stories of salesmen chucking the keys to a sports car at a 19 year old and saying "go and have fun, kid" are just daft pup talk.

[Kawasicki]

McSam said:

orry, I missed this until now! As someone pointed out, the "mass in service" on the V5C includes 75kg driver, 90% fuel, all other fluids (incl. screenwash) full. So to roughly adapt from that condition to your measured condition, if you had only three quarters of a tank of diesel (-8kg from full) and you (+10kg from the standard 75kg driver), we need to add 2kg to the mass in service. So the car should have weighed 1497kg. It was heading for 100kg heavy

Scanning through your options list, again quite roughly and not being certain of everything included, I get to almost 20kg of spec mass. It's got lots of bits on it but not mega heavy ones, though if the HK system comes with an amp and/or subwoofer please add about 3kg for each!

Hence the figure quoted by BMW suggests your car should have been approx. 1517kg when weighed in your condition, and it was 1580kg. My estimate would have been 1586kg, so actually you did alright!

Good work!

[HerrSchnell]

Dave Hedgehog said:

(BMW M dealers certainly do not listen)

Either that or they just don't have a clue about their product.

Test driving a 2.2 Z4 for my wife I was given the "be careful it's a beast" speech from the same guy I'd just spent 5 minutes talking to about using my e46 M3 on a driver training day at Prodrive.

Half way around the test drive he asked if I'd seen the one they had in the showroom like mine. I replied no, but I had seen Frank Sytners old e30 touring car they had in the window, "yeah, that's the one. The old M3"

He was very knowledgeable about finance packages and the benefits of Diamond Shine though.

[rscott]

Sterillium said:

Went to view a Saab Viggen once, turned up, conspicuously, in my TVR.

On the test drive, the private seller immediately said "Be careful, it REALLY takes off when you give it some..."

At this point I was driving completely normally, accelerating to 60mph on a clear and empty dual carriageway, and he was pushing himself back into his seat with his legs, assumingly pretending the steady, reasonable acceleration was doing it to him.

Then he began warning me of twitchiness, of the power surge, and of how it had SO MUCH POWER when overtaking and just to "take it easy it a bit at first..." as I was doing a steady 59 and overtaking nobody at all.

I just think he'd convinced himself it was something superpowered and special, I kept mentioning the TVR and dropping hints that I might be OK with a little twitchiness or some sudden power under my right foot, but to no avail.

To be fair, if it's a standard Viggen, then it would happily torque steer you into the nearest ditch if you get full boost and aren't pointed dead ahead!